Transparency is needed to sort things out. Before big change happens, God first reveals what’s really going on.

In the Book of Revelation - the last book of the Word - the apostle John describes a series of apocalyptic visions that he experienced during his exile on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea.

In one of these visions, he saw four horsemen, the first riding a white horse, the second a red horse, the third a black, and the fourth - named Death - riding a pale horse. These "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" - oft-pictured - are described in Revelation 6:1-8.

What do these horses, and their riders, represent? What do they have to do with us, today? Watch as Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose explore the hidden Bible meaning of the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelation, in this video from the Swedenborg and Life Series, from the Swedenborg Foundation.

Plus, to go straight to the source, follow the links below to the places in "Apocalypse Revealed" where Swedenborg explained the inner meaning of this famous Bible story. A good place to start would be Apocalypse Revealed 298.

(Reference: Apocalypse Explained 315; Apocalypse Revealed 262-263, 301, 306, 314, 316, 320, 322-323)

2846. 'I will certainly bless you' means fruitfulness by virtue of the affection for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed' as being enriched with celestial and spiritual good, dealt with in 981, 1096, 1420, 1422 - here, being enriched with good that is the product of faith, or what amounts to the same, with the affection for truth, for those who are spiritual are the subject. In this verse where Jehovah says to Abraham, 'I will certainly bless you', Abraham represents the Lord as regards the Divine Human, as he has done already in this chapter. The Lord Himself was not able to be blessed as He is Blessing itself; but the verb 'to be blessed' is used when, as His love desires, the number of those who are being saved is abounding, and therefore in the internal sense it is these that are meant here, as is clear also from the things that follow next. The expression 'fruitfulness' is employed here because it is said in reference to affection, whereas the expression 'multiplying', as in what follows, has reference to truths derived from that affection.